Dress form



L. KALVIN DRESS FORM Aug. 10, 1937.

Filed Sept. 23, 1936 INVENTOR Patented Aug. 10, 1937 UNITED-STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to hollow'relief dress forms which embrace only one-half of the human bodydefined by a medial plane through the shoulders such as those commonly-made use of I; for the display of dress goods, garments and the like in shop windows and other places where similar displays are to be made. The general purpose of my invention is to provide an improved construction of the. dress form by which greater rigidity is imparted to it and by which it is more securely held in position on the supporting standard and by which it can be shifted and adjusted on the latter with a certain amount of frictional engagement before it is finally clamped in position ongthe standard. All of these specific objectives related to constructional details which contribute to the stability and ease of manipulating the dress form will'be understood from the following specification.

The present application is a continuation in part of my copending application Serial No. 23,838, filed May 28, 1935 in which the principal features of the present subject matter are disclosed.

In the drawing accompanying the present application Figure 1 is a perspective View of the dress form from the rear;

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section on a 30 slightly enlarged scale;

Figure 3 is an enlarged transverse section on the line 33, of Figure' 2;

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary section transverse to the skeletonized frame which illus trates constructional details contiguous thereto;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary plan view of one end of the transverse brace in its relation to the skeletonized frame;

Figure 6 is an inside fragmentary elevation of the same taken from the right of Figure 5; and

Figure 7 is a fragmentary view similar to Figure 6, showing a modified form of the attachment between the frame and the transverse brace therefor. I

According to the embodiment of my invention shown on the drawing, the skeletonized frame for my improved dress form may consist of a stout wire or substantially inflexible rod of Bessemer steel, having its opposite ends welded together, said rod being shaped to conform to the marginal edge of a hollow relief dress form which, as shown in Figure 1 of the drawing, simulates in conventional form certain portions of the human body anterior to an imaginary plane of intersection through said body, and in which plane the frame is located. As thus constructed, the skeletonized frame is formed with an unbroken continuity and comprises oppositely arranged shoulder arches l and 2, connected together at the top by a transverse portion 3, waist line arches 4 and 5, which form unbroken reversely curved continuations of the shoulder arches I and 2 and are connected below by straight or slightly curved hip extensions 6 and l, to two 90 degree bends 8 and 9, said 90 degree bends being united at the bottom by a second transverse portion I0. Extending crosswise between the oppositely arranged waistline arches 4 and 5 and offset with respect to the common plane of the skeletonized frame, is a rigid transverse bar or brace II which, as shown in Figures 2 and 6 of the drawing, is preferably of channeled crosssection with the transverse flanges Ha thereof presented away from the common plane of the skeletonized frame. The transverse bar or brace H (see Figures 3 and 6 of the drawing), is provided at opposite ends with fiat plate extensions 12 which are deflected rearwardly toward the common plane of the skeletonized frame and rigidly attached, such as by spot welding, to the waistline arches 4 and 5 as shown in Figure 3. For this purpose, each of the flat plate extensions I2 is bifurcated at its outer end as shown in Figure 6 to provide separate lugs lZa, [2a, which are arranged at slight relative angles to each other to conform to spaced points on the waistline curves. As shown best in Figure 3 of the drawing, a clamp block 43 is rigidly secured to the rear surface of the channeled brace H, said clamp block being provided with a socket opening M for receiving a rod or standard l5 which may be secured in any adjusted position by means of a thumb screw I6 and which usually carries the shoulder bar 15a at its top. From Figure 3 it will be noted that the socket hole M of the clamp block I3 is located slightly inside of the plane defined by the rear marginal border of the dress form. When with such an arrangement the standard rod I5 is inserted into the socket l4 and the form is pushed entirely onto the rod so that the latter protrudes at both ends of the form as shown in Figure 1, and which is the normal way of using the standard, the latter will frictionally engage the border of the form at points a and b. This has three advantages. First, the dress form becomes thereby firmly located in vertical position with respect to front and rear and is prevented from tilting forwardly or rearwardly due to the weight of the dress goods displayed thereon. Second, the operator who decorates the form can safely loosen the thumb screw l 6 of the clamp block for adjusting the form to the proper height on the standard without the form sliding down on the rod, being held thereon by the aforementioned frictional engagement. Third, this friction also facilitates the proper setting and retaining of the form after decoration laterally in the proper vertical position. This frontal and lateral vertical securlO ing in position is possible with the operation of only one single clamp block, in contradistinction from prior art devices which require several attaching devices and transverse braces, and where the braces are attached to the unsupported wall portions of the dress form, thereby subjecting these individual small portions toundue strains and bending stresses which impair the rigidity of attachment of the form to the standard.

Any suitable material may be used for forming the body portion of the dress form such, for example, as stiffened flexible material which should I be structurally self-competent to a sufficient degree to receive and retain the rounded contours which are required for the proper draping of 2. the materials or garments which are to be displayed thereon. For this purpose I have illustrateda composite material comprising an inner layer I! of stiff buckram, an intermediate layer 18 of burlap, and an outer layer IQ of soft cotton cloth. After the body portion proper of the dress form has been separately shaped by processes not concerned in the present invention, and has been trimmed down to rearwardly present an unbroken marginal edge in one imaginary plane, outlining in said plane the silhouette form of the human body represented by the skeletonized frame, the latter is placed inside of said edge and permanently bound by suitable means, such as binding strip 20, together with the edge as :40 shown in Figure 4. During this binding operation, which is performed by machines well-known in the art, the binding tape is folded around the frame Wire 6 and the outer edge of the dress form proper and secured along the edge to the .45 inner and outer wall surfaces of the form material, as for example by a suitable adhesive.

As shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the drawing, the structural self-competence of the wall of stiffened sheet material is greatly enhanced by providing the relief structure throughout its circumference with a side wall which is arched forwardly from the common plane of its marginal edge and transversely with respect thereto.

As shown in Figure 7 of the drawing, the attachment of the cross brace I I at each end to the outline frame 5 at the waistline, may be in the .form of a single tongue We at the outer end of extension I21).

The draping of dress forms of a somewhat simi- 0 lar type as heretofore constructed has been attended with considerable drawbacks due to their lack of rigidity and failure to maintain the proper form for rendering the display effective. These drawbacks have been more especially inherent in ,5 the lower portions of the dress forms due to their lack of support-and resulting tendency to be distorted and forced out of shape by the tightness with which the garments or dress goods are drawn about the dress forms below the waistline. The present invention provides suitable and effective means for eliminating these drawbacks consisting of the relief form constructed of stiffened material provided with arched marginal walls throughout for increasing its structural stability and the closed skeletonized frame of unbroken contour constructed of a subtantially inflexible rod which rigidly reenforces the marginal edge of the material in the common plane of its rearwardly-pre- .sented edge for anchoring the marginal edge against lateral displacement and thereby reenforcing the arched side walls of the relief structure. Lastly, the rigidity is enhanced by the rigid transverse brace, rigidly attached to the stiff (wire frame which latter is at all points firmly united with the form at its marginal edges, so that the form material, the binding frame and the transverse brace form for allpractical purposes an integral, rigid system, not easily. bent or. even warped out of shape, and; capable of being, ad-' justably mounted on'a standard and of retaining its adjusted position thereon.

1. In a dress form, the combination with a-hollow relief form constructed of stiffened material shaped to form a hollow relief modelof the portion of a human body in respect to a medial plane of intersection, said model being provided with convexly rounded marginal border portions terminating in said plane and defining the outline of said body therein, of a continuous rod frame, shaped to conform'to saidoutline and embodied throughout its length in the edge of said marginal border portions, said frame having'an inwardly offset rigid transverse brace fixed to op,- posite sides thereof whereby rigidity is imparted to the marginal border portions and to the entire body.

2. In a dress form, the combination with a hollow relief form constructed of stiffened material shaped to form a hollow relief model of the portion of a human body in respect to a medial plane of intersection, said model being provided with convexly rounded marginal border portions terminating in said plane and defining theoutline of said body therein, of a continuous rod frame, shaped to conform to said outline and embodied throughout its length in the edge of said marginal border portions, said frame having an inwardly offset rigid transverse brace fixed to opposite sides thereof wherebyrigidityis imparted to the marginal border portions and tothe-entire body, and a socketed clamping block fixed to said brace and adapted to be adjustably' fixed to a standard rod for supporting the dress form, the socket of said block being located slightly inwardly of said border plane, so that the standard rod when located in said socket frictionally engages the border of said dress form on: opposite sides thereof,

wherebythe form is held frictionally in vertical alinement with said rod.

. LOUIS KALVIN. 

